With a new album on the way and a much-anticipated set at Brighton's Attenborough Centre at the ready, James Lavelle, the man behind UNKLE and Mo' Wax, takes Elizabeth Aubrey through the 13 records that shaped him

Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf

I did some work on Like Clockwork, the band’s last album. I had heard Rated R, which I really liked. It was one of those records that sounded different from what was going on at the time.
Rich and I did a bootleg version of ‘Feel Good Hit of the Summer’ and we went down to a show that they were doing, supporting Rated R. We gave him the track and he ended up really liking it, calling me back and we sort of built a relationship.

Songs for the Deaf reminded me again of when I listened to records like Check Your Head or Blue Lines, you know, Mark Lanegan, Nick Oliveri. The thing that really changed me was the way that the drums were on that record: they just blew my mind. I ended up remixing No One Knows and he ended up recording on Never, Never, Land, my second record.

Do you think you'll work with QOTSA again?

I hope so. Apart from Josh, everybody else is on the new album! They're all there – Josh wasn't very well during the session. But, yeah, Jon Theodore, Chris Goss, Troy, yeah, they're all on there [laughs].

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